Recently in Career & Continuing Education Category

Just contacted by Robbie Nelson & Rosanna Messick at the Adaptive Surfing Foundation. We need to get them down to Floripa in Brazil!

Too often talk related to disability emphasizes mobility impairments and wheelchair users when sensory impairments are numerically more common. This is true when speaking of travel and disability also. Given the lack of material on sensory imairments in Inclusive Travel literature it becomes necessary to draw inferences from other fields. In tnis case a study in higher education provides some insights:

Sensory access in higher education: guidance report 2009
Making sure the campus environment doesn't disadvantage sensory impaired staff or students
Research into the experiences of disabled students suggests that students who are blind or partially sighted, deaf or hard of hearing, or within the autistic spectrum can be disadvantaged by their campus environment.
This guidance was developed following an investigation to explore and understand some of the barriers to inclusion currently experienced by sensory impaired staff and students in higher education. The investigation revealed recommendations for estates managers, but also for a range of departments across institutions, including recommendations for management, support service providers and learning managers.
Areas covered include:
Management issues
Support service providers
Learning managers
Estate managers
Technical glossary
Sources of further information
Download:
 DOC: Sensory access in higher education: guidance report 2009 (243.5 kB)
 PDF: Sensory access in higher education: guidance report 2009 (701.2 kB)

On Friday the 12th March, Tourism for All UK participated in a two hour workshop at the largest tourism trade exhibition of its kind - ITB Berlin.

In front of an audience of visitors to the trade show, the session investigated the experience of the panellists as to how Europe was meeting the needs of disabled visitors, which was followed by an in-depth Q&A session hosted by SAT 1 TV presenter Bettina Cramer.

Principally this session was about good practice and how the requirements of disabled people are being met in Europe, the barriers to tourism for disabled people and how these might be overcome.

Participants included:

Dirk Janczewski, Founder of Barrier-Free-Tourism.eu (www.barrierfree-tourism.com/);

Lillian Muller, President of ENAT - the European Network for Accessible Tourism (www.accessibletourism.org/);

Mohammed Al-Tarawneh Vice-Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (www.ohchr.org/);

Dr Rudiger Leidner - President of the Coordination Board on Tourism of the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (http://natko.de/);

Angel David Herrera González - Counsellor of Tourism for Arona in Tenerife (www.arona.org/)

Brian Seaman of TFA.

Source:

http://www.tourismforall.org.uk/ITB-Berlin-Accessible-Tourism-Market-Potential-and-Best-Practices-BusinessNews.htm

• Onglet « Tourisme et handicap » sur la page d'accueil du site internetwww.audetourisme.com.

• Un nouveau site en juin. A cette même adresse, la nouvelle version du site internet du CDT de l'Aude-Pays cathare sera en ligne en juin 2010. Elle intègre un mini site dédié exclusivement au handicap, particulièrement complet, plus ergonomique et plus lisible. Répondant à la norme « Accessiweb V1.1 », il permet, entre autres :

- Une présentation vocale du département en MP3, téléchargeable.
- Une vidéo détaillée de tous les secteurs en langue des signes.
- Une rubrique pour préparer son séjour (accès en avion, services Accès plus de la SNCF dans trois gares du département, contacts utiles sur les agglomérations de Narbonne et Carcassonne...).
- La liste des offices du tourisme labélisés.
- L'annuaire des services spécialisés et d'aide à la personne.
- La liste des zones de baignades accessibles (plages et piscines).
- Une rubrique « Actus » recensant tous les infos spécifiques et les actions des prestataires labélisés.

• Brochure Tourisme & Handicap de l'Aude Pays Cathare (version papier ou téléchargeable sur le site), éditée depuis 2003. La grande nouveauté de la cette édition est la mise en valeur des structures labélisées situées à proximité du Canal du Midi. Leur diversité et leur complémentarité permettent à une clientèle en situation de handicap physique de composer un séjour en toute confiance. Elle recense tous les sites labélisés, avec un descriptif et une carte du département. La brochure 2010 est disponible le 12 mars.

• Mémento de l'accueil touristique en LSF (Langue des signes française), disponible depuis 2007, en version papier ou téléchargeable sur le site. Une première en France ! Destiné aux professionnels du tourisme et agents des offices du tourisme, initiés à cette langue lors de formations, ce manuel pratique permet de répondre à des situations concrètes face à des personnes sourdes et malentendantes. Il propose un florilège de photos présentant les expressions les plus courantes : bonjour, merci, bonnes vacances, restaurant ou feu d'artifice...

• Présentation du département avec vidéo en LSF sur le site. L'Aude fut l'un des premiers à proposer un tel service d'information ! Dans de courtes vidéos, une interprète en langue des signes présente les différents pays qui composent le département, les sites majeurs et l'histoire de la région.
www.audetourisme.com/FR/tourisme_et_handicap/lsf/le_pays_carcassonnais.aspx

• Sensibilisation des professionnels à l'accueil des visiteurs handicapés à l'occasion de courtes formations à l'initiative des offices du tourisme et du CDT. Elles abordent le cadre légal, les obligations imposées par la loi handicap de 2005 et un accompagnement technique pour mettre leurs sites en conformité. Sur le nouveau site du CDT, une rubrique « Espace pro » proposera dès juin 2010 une multitude d'informations et de documents (certains disponibles en version papier) pour les aider dans leurs démarches : photos, schémas et plans des adaptations, liste des fournisseurs spécialisés sur toute la France, guide pour l'accueil des visiteurs handicapés...

• Participation active à des salons spécialisés.
Prochains rendez-vous :
- Salon Autonomies à Liège (Belgique), les 25, 26 et 27 mars 2010 où le CDT de l'Aude présentera sa brochure 2010 sur la plate-forme « Tourisme & Loisirs adaptés ».
- Salon Autonomic à Paris, Porte de Versailles les 9, 10 et 11 juin 2010.

• Trophées « Autonomic, Innov 2008 » et « Les étoiles de l'accueil, trophée de la Maison de la France (Rn2d) » en 2006 qui ont récompensé la présentation filmée du département en langue des signes.

 En savoir plus sur notre dossier « Tourisme et handicap » dans l'Aude :

Aude : « Un tourisme pour tous ! » et contacts
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3166.php

Aude : Editorial d'Alain Coste, directeur du CDT + projets
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3167.php

Aude : le tourisme adapté en chiffres
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3168.php

Aude : les sites incontournables et leur accessibilité
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3170.php

Aude : Carcassonne, notre ville coup de cœur
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3171.php

Aude : Narbonne, des actions positives
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3172.php

Aude : calendrier des grandes manifestations
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3173.php

Aude : bastion gastronomique
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3174.php

Aude : sports et loisirs adaptés
http://tourisme.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3175.php

Siource:

http://informations.handicap.fr/art-tourisme-culture-15.0.0.0-3169.php

The World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) and PATA are joining forces in the drive towards 'real sustainability' in destinations across the Asia Pacific region. A Memorandum of Understanding signed at ITB Berlin thius week by Greg Duffell, Chief Executive Officer of PATA  and André Vallerand, President of CED was witnessed by UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai.

Greg Duffell considers the partnership, as exemplified by this agreement, to be extremely significant in the development of destinations across the Asia Pacific region. "Not only will we be able to develop and provide practical tools for use by our industry as it grows but we will also be able to do so at a level that recognises and works towards real sustainability whilst maintaining a sharp competitive edge" he said.

Andre Vallerand believes the partnership 'registers perfectly with the development plan of the CED mission to contribute to bring destinations of the entire world towards excellence'. "SMED offers the assessed destinations concrete and feasible recommendations that will allow them to reach their targets of sustainable development, to develop their competitiveness, to improve the quality of the experience given to tourists and to reinforce their geographical character," he said.

The CED, based in Montreal, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the research and creation of tools to support the development of sustainable tourism for destinations around the world. The CED was created with the support of the UNWTO and National Geographic. 

Further information: www.ced.travel

Source:

African delegates at the FITUR Exhibitions in Madrid, Spain have chosen Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, director general of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), to head a newly formed continental body known as the African Tourism Promotion Initiative, which was formed the participants at the event.

The body was formed after a meeting held at the Nigeria stand, which came in the heels of the INVESTOUR Forum held  at Feria de Madrid, venue of the global tourism event.
 
 INVESTOUR, which debuted for the first time this year, was initiated by the Spanish Outboard Tourism Authorities, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Casa Africa.
 
The forum was formed as a result of the increasing interest on African destinations by Spanish investors and tourists and is expected to afford African destinations the opportunity to present their various destinations and business opportunities to the investors, and its focus was on the Economic Community of West Africa States (Ecowas).

The objectives of the new tourism body are to market and promote tourism; build and develop contacts and relationships among the various destinations in the continent. This is in addition to carrying out joint promotions and marketing of tourism products and services of member nations; and to support each member at exhibitions platforms across the globe.
 
The body also resolved that it would henceforth engage in the understudy of member nations' destinations with the aim of helping to grow, develop and promote the continent as one destination.
 
The need to jumpstart the process of having a formidable voice in the global tourism through the new body was emphasised with members pledging to do everything possible to ensure the success of the new initiative.
Also to jumpstart this, Zimbabwe formally announced the hosting of Miss Zimbabwe beauty pageant by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) with formal invitation extended to all the members and countries of Africa by Karikoa Kaseke, chief executive of ZTA,  who is also the vice president of the new body.
 
The Gambia Tourism also announced the hosting of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) Congress by May with formal invitation to all the members while countries such as Burkina Faso announced the hosting of a tourism expo later in the year with all the members invited to exhibit ex-gratis.
 
It was also agreed at the forum that English and French languages would be the official languages for the conduct of business.
The secretary of the body is Stella Christiane Drabo from Burkina Faso while Mr. Ida Jang Njie from Gambia Tourism is the public relations officer.
FITUR is an annual exhibition platform which is dedicated to the development and promotion of global tourism destinations, products and services.

The IDeA Center is happy to announce that two new publications available in 2010.

Inclusive Housing: A Pattern Book (W.W. Norton & Co.) will be released in April 2010 and is a resource for designing communities to accommodate social diversity and provide equitable opportunities for all residents, or, inclusive design. It focuses on design of housing to provide accessibility to people with disabilities and, at the same time, provide benefits to all residents. The book emerged out of a lengthy discussion within the Congress for the New Urbanism about accessible housing design in the urban context. This discussion identified the need for information that would help incorporate accessibility for people with disabilities into neighborhood and housing design practices without compromising other important design goals. For ordering information, please go here:

Direct from Publisher, W.W. Norton and Co.
Borders
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Google listings

The State of the Science: Emerging Research and Developments in Universal Design (Bentham Sciences Publishers, Ltd.) will contain the latest research related to universal design that was presented at the RERC-UD's State of the Science events. The publication has over twenty contributing authors from around the world and emphasizes the growing need for evidence based practice in the field.

Continue to other upcoming publications >>

RERC-APT Partners with Easter Seals Project ACTION

The RERC-APT recently developed a collaborative relationship with Easter Seals Project ACTION.  Easter Seals Project ACTION promotes cooperation between the transportation industry and the disability community to increase mobility for people with disabilities under the ADA and beyond. Recognizing our common goals, we worked together to develop, "Universal Design & Accessible Transit Systems: Facts to Consider When Updating or Expanding Your Transit System." The guide is targeted towards those involved with transportation infrastructure and capital investment purchases of equipment. It provides useful information on accessibility and the benefits of universal design, and contains recommendations and guidelines for transit agencies to consider when updating or expanding their systems. It is available online and as a print publication. Since fall 2009, over 10,000 fact sheets were mailed out and over 1000 copies were distributed at various conferences. In addition, Mary Leary, Senior Director of Project ACTION & Transportation Initiatives, joined the RERC-APT Advisory Board.

Disability is defined as an interaction between what levels of functionality a person may have and the environment.

The lack of vision, for example, may not constitute a disability in any meaningful sense to a blind person in a well-designed or familiar environment.

Not all functional abilities involved in disability are the same.

Typical  medically-oriented categories used to group people who may share broadly similar accessibility and inclusion requirements include:

1.    Visual
2.    Auditory
3.    Cognitive/emotional
4.    Mobility

A complimentary approach avoids the implicit paternalism of a medical model and looks at the lifecycle of individuals to guide design solutions by the demographics of infant-child-youth-adult-senior. This segmentation also accounts for more temporary changes in a persons' functionality through things such as pregnancy, a broken limb, pushing a stroller, illiteracy in the local language, or intoxication.

Not all disabilities require the same design solution.

In fact, an ideal solution for one group (items lowered to be reached easily from a wheelchair, sidewalk ramps with a smooth texture and no lip) can be a danger to another group with a disability (collision danger with low objects for blind users or lack of tactile clues on ramps for canes.)

Good design requires a team of experts working directly with users.

As a result, all design solutions seeking access and inclusion require experts in Universal Design. Universal Design is user-centered design process that involves persons with disabilities in the design, construction, and ongoing maintenance monitoring process.
 Universal design is defined as:

Universal Design is a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design.

Permanent esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred

While permanent esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred and temporary aesthetically incongruous are to be avoided change is sometimes necessary. Best practices include designing for ease of maintenance, building with modularity that allows for upgrades, and constructing with hidden structural reinforcement permitting future expansion.
In fact, although observation demonstrates that most non-disabled users intentionally use accessibility features such as ramps, many individuals with significant sensory or mobility limitations through aging do not consider themselves disabled and avoid "ugly" stereotyping accessibility features.
In other words, esthetically-integrated design solutions are preferred both by persons with disabilities and those whose primary concern is the preservation of the integrity of a historic patrimony site.

If a user can't find it, it doesn't exist

Navigation through proper signage and environmental design is an essential element of the fully inclusive tourism destination.

Also essential is the existence of material describing the destination in modes that are accessible to visitors with disabilities: captioned photos and video, audio-described graphics, text in Braille. Studies exist on what constitutes the destination features that must be described for travelers with disabilities and how they are best published for use by this demographic. Experts in Inclusive Design are familiar with these emerging standards and best-practices and can provide guidance.

All this material must be available in accessible format online in the language of the desired client group before any Inclusive Destination project or itinerary can be considered complete.

Marketing should include persons with disabilities.

There is a "bonus" market hidden here.

Of all traveler niches persons with disabilities rely more heavily on word-of-mouth recommendation than any other group.

People with disabilities travel with an average of 1.5 people accompanying them.  Consider, for example, that an entire family with a member who has a disability will avoid an inaccessible hotel or destination causing those businesses to lose multiple times the income to be gained by not accommodating one person with a disability. Consider further that word-of-mouth dis-recommendation by the disability community guarantees that those economic losses will continue to multiply over time until accessible environments and inclusive practices are implemented.

In addition travelers with disabilities are more loyal return customers, spend an average of one day longer at a destination than other groups.

Inclusive Design in areas marked for historic preservation is an example of Geotourism.

Geotourism is defined as:

National Geographic defines geotourism as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place -its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. Geotourism incorporates the concept of sustainable tourism -that destinations should remain unspoiled for future generations- while allowing for enhancement that protects the character of the locale. Geotourism also adopts a principle from its cousin, ecotourism -that tourism revenue can promote conservation- and extends that principle beyond nature travel to encompass culture and history as well: all distinctive assets of a place.

Design makes all the difference! For those who don't understand the Norwegian just watch the images of the Integra lifter. It looks just like a furniture removing the stigma of "hospital appliance" from a necessary assistive device. 

From YouTube March 4, 2010:

The Future Will Be Captioned: Improving Accessibility on YouTube

Tens of millions of people in the U.S. experience some kind of hearing impairment and recent studies have predicted that over 700 million people worldwide will suffer from hearing impairment by 2015. To address a clear need, the broadcast industry began running captions on regular video programming in the early 1970s. Today, closed captions on video are more prevalent than ever. But generating captions today can be a time-consuming and complicated process.

Making video easily accessible is something we're working hard to address at YouTube. One of the first steps we took was the development of a caption feature in 2008. In November of last year we released auto-captioning for a small, select group of partners. Auto-captioning combines some of the speech-to-text algorithms found in Google's Voice Search to automatically generate video captions when requested by a viewer. The video owner can also download the auto-generated captions, improve them, and upload the new version. Viewers can even choose an option to translate those captions into any one of 50 different languages -- all in just a couple of clicks.

Today, we are opening up auto-captions to all YouTube users. There will even be a "request processing" button for un-captioned videos that any video owner can click on if they want to speed up the availability of auto-captions. It will take some time to process all the available video, so here are some things to keep in mind:

Continued here: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/03/future-will-be-captioned-improving.html

Pauline and Arthur Frommer, daughter and father in that well-known travel family, had a lively disagreement on Sunday, August 23, about Afar's approach to travel. Pauline likes it; Arthur not so much. Here's what happened: Pauline taped an interview and talked about Afar's mission to help experiential travelers get beneath the surface and connect more deeply with a place and its people.


The Afar Blog:

http://www.afar.com/blog/page/2/

Frommer vs. Frommer:

http://www.afar.com/blog/2009/08/frommer-vs-frommer-first-family-of-travel-disagrees-about-afar/

Afar

http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=134705

Think Beyond the Label

Many myths still prevail about workers with disabilities. Get the facts and the tools you need to evolve your workforce!

Quale gruppo ha di gran lunga il più alto tasso di aumento dei laureati? Quale gruppo ha un tasso elevato e continuo di conservazione di dipendenti fedeli in tutti i settori? Quale gruppo trae più beneficio dai progressi tecnici e dalle facilitazioni che si sviluppano così velocemente in questi giorni? Quale gruppo ha un grande potenziale per creare soluzioni innovative ai problemi organizzativi ed esterni, ma è più ignorato?

 

La risposta è chiaramente le persone con disabilità, secondo la definizione ADA. (ADA si intende per l'Americans with Disabilities Act).

 

Su suggerimento di Deborah Dagit, vice presidente e chief diversity officer di Merck & Co. (N. 8 del DiversityInc Top 50 Aziende per la Diversità) e fautrice principale per l'inclusione delle persone con disabilità, DiversityInc di recente ha convocato una tavola rotonda di esperti aziendali e governativi a Washington DC. Lo scopo era quello di esplorare cosa è che inibisce le organizzazioni dall'assumere e formare persone di talento con disabilità e quali soluzioni sono in grado di offrire organizzazioni innovative. Anche se abbiamo organizzato frequenti tavole rotonde, le vigorose discussioni e le sostanziali soluzioni di fondo, hanno dato risalto a questo, e ci piacerebbe condividerlo con voi.

 

Perché bisognerebbe assumere dipendenti con disabilità?

 

L'enfasi dell'assumere persone di questo gruppo deve spostarsi dalla filantropia ai vantaggi economici che può portare nel business, questo secondo il giudizio dei critici della materia. Come la comunità LGBT, le persone con disabilità - e i loro parenti e amici - sono clienti molto fedeli. "È stato dimostrato che le imprese che fanno davvero un buon lavoro di assistenza alle persone con disabilità, non solo ottengono il beneficio di fidelizzazione al marchio, ma anche altre persone che non hanno alcuna disabilità, vedono il lavoro di questa azienda in una luce più positiva", dice la Dagit. Kathy Martinez, assistente segretario del lavoro del US Office of Disability Employment Policy, sottolinea la necessità di rendere l'assunzione di persone con disabilità il succo del problema, problema che le organizzazioni non possono ignorare, perché può incidere su tutti. "La disabilità è parte della condizione umana," dice lei. "Spesso, le persone diventano disabili quando sono adulte. Ho sempre detto alla gente che l'ADA non era stato necessariamente approvato per una persona come me, che era nata cieca. So come essere cieca; essere cieca è normale per me. Ma per quella persona a cui capita di perdere la propria vista a causa di un incidente o altro, vogliamo lo stesso tipo di servizi che aveva in precedenza. "

 

Lori Golden concorda, sottolineando che molti lavoratori hanno disabilità non visibili, le cosiddette disabilità "nascoste", e la prevalenza delle persone con disabilità nei luoghi di lavoro influisce il modo di operare delle aziende. La Golden è il leader di AccessAbilities in Ernst & Young (n. 3).

 

" Molti di noi "baby boomer" che avevano sperato di andare in pensione ora non possono permetterselo," dice la Golden. "Restiamo al lavoro più a lungo e ora abbiamo anche molti progressi della medicina, che consentono alle persone con gravi malattie e condizioni di salute croniche di continuare a lavorare. Abbiamo anche progressi tecnologici che permettono alle persone di lavorare attraverso la realtà virtuale. Se non ci si rende conto che ci sono più persone con disabilità nei luoghi di lavoro, oramai, e non ci si regola in base a questo creando l'inclusione, si sta minando la produttività e non si sfrutta appieno l'investimento nel talento. "

 

I progressi tecnici cambiano il posto di lavoro

 

In IBM (n. 10), il manager of diversity and employee experience, Julie Baskin Brooks, dice che l'assunzione di persone con disabilità è "chiaramente un imperativo strategico di business. C'è una guerra per i talenti, e se non siamo inclusivi con questa quota crescente di talenti della nostra popolazione, perdiamo un occasione. IBM è una società di tecnologia, e questa è un'opportunità di business, fornendo adattamento IT (Information Technology) da parte dell'azienda".

 

Gli esperti notano che questo è un momento di trasformazione per le imprese moderne man mano che diventano più tecnicamente avanzate e creano maggiori opportunità per il telelavoro e luoghi di lavoro virtuale. Luke Visconti, CEO di DiversityInc, sottolinea che il costo medio singolo di sistemazioni per un lavoratore dipendente con una disabilità definita da ADA, è di $ 200, una cifra che La Starnes conferma. Perché, allora, con l'approciarsi, il 26 luglio 2010, del 20 ° anniversario della ADA, c'è ancora un alto tasso di disoccupazione per le persone con disabilità rispetto alla popolazione generale (44 per cento contro il 12 per cento)?

 

La Martinez dice che la risposta è semplice: la paura dell'assunzione. Le persone abili non vogliono vedersi ricordate le proprie potenzialità dalla presenza di persone disabili davanti a loro.

 

Come la Dagit, che ha l'osteogenesi imperfetta, dice: "Per ogni lavoro che mi sia mai capitato, sono stata respinta almeno 20 volte ogni volta che qualcuno entrava nella stanza e vedeva il mio aspetto. E perfino anche dopo avermi fatto volare attraverso tutto il paese in prima classe, perché il curriculum era esattamente ciò di cui avevano bisogno. Entravo nella stanza, la posizione era già stata occupata, e ritornavo indietro su un altro volo. "

 

Sensibilizzazione

 

La Martinez e la Starnes riportano che il Governo Federale sta guardando all'America aziendale per fornire leadership sulla consapevolezza della disabilità.

 

Nancy Starnes, direttore degli affari esterni per l'Organizzazione Nazionale sulla Disabilità, consiglia alle aziende di guardare i loro spot pubblicitari, le loro relazioni annuali, i loro siti web - tutte le chiavi per la comunicazione esterna del branding che hanno - e vedere se essi comprendono immagini e contenuti su persone con disabilità. E poi considerare le riunioni degli azionisti, in occasione di conferenze con clienti, e assicurarsi che ci siano le soluzioni.

 

La Golden osserva che vi è un termine usato nel Regno Unito, denominato "disability confidence" (fiducia nella disabilità). Quello che veramente intende è l'educazione e la sensibilizzazione. "Questo dovrebbe essere parte del nostro bagaglio standard. Non si tratta solo delle persone con disabilità, si tratta di ciascuno di noi, sapendo che siamo in grado di interagire con competenza con chiunque incontriamo" dice la Golden.

 

Cita la locandina che Ernst & Young prepara per il National Disability Employment Month ogni anno, che quest'anno ha incluso una foto di una persona dietro una scrivania, che è apparentemente un cliente. Due persone si trovano ad affrontare questa persona e la domanda posta è "Sei pronto?" La copia dice che se non si sa se guardare o meno l'interprete, allora non siete preparati.

 

Ci dice anche che Ernst & Young ha creato dei quiz di sensibilizzazione sulla disabilità, in particolare cosa fare se si fosse di fronte a una situazione che coinvolgesse un cliente. Afferma che "I giovani imparano molto rapidamente che si dovrebbe sapere queste cose".

 

La Baskin Brooks osserva che IBM sta lavorando per garantire che tutti i suoi dipendenti a livello mondiale siano sensibili alle parole e alle cosidette "microinequities", cioè piccoli gesti che possono facilmente offendere gli altri.

 

La Dagit aggiunge: "Quando ti siedi con un gruppo di persone, si sa subito se i loro comportamenti sono accessibili ai disabili."

 

Il Novantadue per cento dei membri della classifica DiversityInc Top 50 hanno ora gruppi di risorse per dipendenti rivolti alle persone con disabilità, rispetto al ventotto per cento di cinque anni fa.

 

Gruppi di risorse per dipendenti

 

Questi gruppi hanno rappresentato una fonte estremamente preziosa per trovare dipendenti di talento con disabilità, ricevendo il messaggio che l'organizzazione ha una cultura aziendale inclusiva, contribuendo a fornire soluzioni e assistenza nel processo di inserimento del personale.

 

In IBM, il disability employee group è stato fondamentale nello sviluppo di una nuova iniziativa globale chiamata Accessibility & Disability Central, che dispone di uno strumento per aiutare ad identificare le esigenze di sistemazione, le opzioni e le fonti, e quindi di monitorarne i progressi per assicurarsi che stiano lavorando bene e abbiano un positivo rapporto costo-efficacia. Un programma pilota è attualmente in corso.

 

Organizzazioni partner con disabilità

 

La Starnes cita i programmi che NOD attua per portare i lavoratori con disabilità più talentuosi nell' America aziendale, come il programma Start on Successs con circa 51 partner aziendali, che sta contribuendo a ottimizzare la sequenza di attività da svolgere e il lavoro con le scuole per avvicinare gli studenti delle scuole superiori alle società con stage triennali retribuiti.

 

L'ottantacinque per cento degli studenti di questo programma prosegue verso gli studi superiori, afferma la Starnes. Cita anche il progetto opportunità di carriera per gli studenti con disabilità (Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities - COSD), che trova stage per studenti universitari con disabilità, e programmi di assunzione di forza lavoro, come il progetto SEARCH, un programma di sviluppo di carriera per aiutare i ragazzi con disabilità delle scuole superiori a "trovare l'occupazione dei loro sogni".

 

Un fattore chiave, che si applica anche ad altri gruppi tradizionalmente sottorappresentati, è quello di prenderli in considerazione quando sono giovani e lavorare con le scuole.

 

"C'è davvero bisogno di ampliare il raggio d'azione al settimo grado scolastico (12-13 anni) perché influisca nel programma delle scuole medie e permetta di partecipare a corsi di preparazione universitaria nelle scuole superiori, che li prepari a entrare in college o università", afferma la Dagit. "Se gli studenti si sentono pienamente inclusi e parte integrante della classe, raggiungono i loro obiettivi. Ma vi è una crisi di basse aspettative ".

 

Per concludere: qualcosa di personale

 

La Martinez ricorda la sua infanzia, in una numerosa famiglia latino-americana, dove la sua casa era sempre la casa di tutti. La Martinez e una delle sue sorelle sono cieche e "gli altri bambini dopo aver avuto una sorta di disagio per i primi due secondi, e poi potendo vedere come i nostri fratelli si comportavano con noi non ci facevano più caso."

 

"Non si può legiferare sugli atteggiamenti, ma è possibile modificare i livelli di comfort delle persone", afferma la Martinez.

 

 

 

http://diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/6994/

 

Britain's leading travel companies are failing to serve the needs of disabled travellers, new research has found. 

The study, carried out [by Co-operative Travel with the assistance of Tourism for All, a British-based charity that specialises in travel for the disabled, found that 85 per cent of respondents did not believe travel agents understand the needs of disabled travellers, and 78 per cent did not feel they were catered for by high street agents. The survey also found that 35 per cent would not consider booking with a mainstream travel agent.

There are approximately 10 million adults and 750,000 children in the UK who suffer from some form of disability. It is estimated that a quarter of these regularly travel abroad.

Brian Seaman, head of consultancy at Tourism for All, said the travel industry needs to do more to understand the needs of disabled travellers.

"We have conducted independent research in the past by sending disabled travellers to the high street to find a disabled-friendly holiday to Majorca," he said. "In every case, not one travel agent was able to offer a product that might have resulted in a booking. The agents had great difficulty in finding suitable accommodation and when it came to visiting the accommodation on the island that they were able to find, they turned out not to be as accessible for disabled people as the agents had suggested."

Keith Richards, head of professional development at Abta, the travel association, admitted that the level of awareness of disability issues within its membership was not as high as it should be, but said there had been a big improvement in recent years.

"In June we will be launching our e-learning tool on accessible travel for all our members. We're developing this jointly with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to tackle the issues raised here," he said. "The services are mostly provided overseas where there is rarely any legal framework to provide access to goods and services generally, let alone hotel or tourism services. It is left to British tour operators and agents to try to find out how accessible a hotel is."

Jane Witherington, commercial and market development manager at the Co-operative Travel, which commissioned the Tourism for All research, has promised to improve its service to disabled travellers.

"We have launched a new tailored service aimed specifically at disabled travellers," she said, "and trained staff from 40 branches nationwide to ensure that they are up to speed with all aspects of holidays for people who require specialist travel."

This week Expedia, the online travel agent, launched new search tools designed to help disabled travellers find accessible accommodation. The move follows a court case in the US last year that resulted in Expedia being instructed to add content and search features to its websites that would allow people with disabilities to reserve rooms. The service is currently only available on the US website.

Leonard Cheshire, a British charity that supports disabled people, has given warning that many airports still fail to meet the needs of disabled passengers, despite EU laws introduced in 2008 that make it the responsibility of airports to provide assistance to disabled travellers. [ See: Leonard Cheshire article, July 2009].  The Civil Aviation Authority is close to completing its own report on how these laws have been implemented.

 

Tourism for All, UK is an ENAT Member.